A game controller that draws blood – Real product, or viral ad campaign?
A new campaign may have recently proven to be a little too much for the crowdfunding site Kickstarter.com – Blood Sport, a product that is equal parts game controller and blood donation machine, has had its campaign suspended after earning only $3,309 CAD.
The controller is the invention of Taran Chadha and Jamie Umpherson, who use the name “Brand & Grotesque” for their Kickstarter handle.
Blood Sport works by taking the rumble feature in a standard video game controller and connecting it to a blood donation device, such as those found at most blood clinics.
When the controller rumbles, a program activates the blood machine to take a small amount of blood. The rumble usually occurs when a player takes damage in the game, so the more damage a player takes, the more blood is given.
“We’re taking the consequences of the gaming world and having them affect you in real life,” Chadha said in a video outlining the Blood Sport project. “Our goal is to take Blood Sport to clinics across the country so you can take part in blood donation gaming events.”
Chadha and Umpherson are adamant that Blood Sport is completely safe to use, and they state that there is no danger of the machine overdrawing blood.
“The machine that draws blood is the same kind you’ll find at a Blood Bank,” the project FAQ says. “So it has all the same safety settings.”
Serious project, or clever ad campaign?
The project bio states that both Chadha and Umpherson have worked for ad agencies in the past, noting in particular the Umpherson had worked on surrogaid.org.
Surrogaid.org is a fake organization designed to look like a technology startup. The site claims to allow people to remotely connect to machines in war torn countries to act as surrogate mothers for children.
The site is actually a campaign by charity organization War Child Canada, which provides education and other aid to children in war-affected countries. One of the designers on the project stated that they looked at technology startups on Kickstarter to make it look as real as possible.
It is possible that Blood Sport is a similar project, aimed more at drawing attention to the blood supply shortage in Canada, which is mentioned by Umpherson in the Blood Sport video.
Either way, with the Kickstarter campaign suspended, it seems unlikely that Blood Sport will earn its $250,000 goal.
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